The upcoming series between India and South Africa, which is scheduled to be played on the South Africa tour might get called off as the new COVID-19 variant has threatened to wreak havoc in South Africa.
The Indian cricket team is scheduled to play three Tests, three ODIs, and four T20 Internationals across four venues -Johannesburg, Centurion, Paarl, and Cape Town, in their seven-week assignment, starting December 17.
Currently, the nation is on the lowest level of lockdown measures but the new variant has prompted the so-called coronavirus command council and cabinet to call a meeting for the weekend, where the lockdown situation will be discussed and new quarantine rules will be set up.
Meanwhile, journalist Vikrant Gupta also took to his Twitter and raised concerns regarding India’s upcoming tour to S.Africa. He also expressed how this is a serious concern for India as the A team is already in South Africa. He wrote:
“Within hours the B.1.1.529 Variant has claimed its first sporting victim as the Netherlands will abandon their tour of South Africa. More serious concerns for India ahead of their Test/ODI/T-20 tour of South Africa in December – the A team is already in South Africa #COVID19“
Here, check out the Tweet:
Within hours the B.1.1.529 Variant has claimed its first sporting victim as the Netherlands will abandon their tour of South Africa. More serious concerns for India ahead of their Test/ODI/T-20 tour of South Africa in December – the A team is already in South Africa #COVID19
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) November 26, 2021
“Look, till we get a detailed picture of the ground situation from Cricket South Africa (CSA), we will not be able to tell our next step. As per the current plan, the Indian team is supposed to leave either on December 8 or 9 just after the New Zealand series gets over in Mumbai,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on Friday.
As of now, the tour is on but it is understood that the BCCI will be talking to CSA, in the next few days, regarding the new variant, which has set alarm bells ringing across the world.
“Initially, there was no provision for hard quarantine but obviously the players will remain in a bio-bubble. Now with cases rising in South Africa and European Union also cancelling flights temporarily, we need to factor in these aspects,” a senior BCCI source said.
The PTI also got in touch with a member of the staff, who is currently with the India A team in S.Africa. “We didn’t undergo any hard quarantine on arrival over here since we came by charter flight and are staying in a bio-bubble. After the outbreak, a medical team from Cricket South Africa had a meeting with our representatives over here.”
“We were told that there is nothing to worry since the spike in cases is far away from Bloemfontein where we would be playing our next match too,” the official said over phone.
He added:
“We were told specifically that Bloemfontein is unaffected by the spike in COVID cases and also it’s happening in the northern part of the country,”
